


Concerto Memorial

by TariCalmcacil



Category: Captain America (2011), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Fluff, Gen, Memorial Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-07
Updated: 2012-07-07
Packaged: 2017-11-09 08:40:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/453541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TariCalmcacil/pseuds/TariCalmcacil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve just wanted to spend Memorial Day thinking about his friends. He didn't realize that Tony had the same idea when he dragged him to DC for the National Memorial Day Concert. </p><p>Or: how Steve stopped seeing Tony as an annoying acquaintance whom wasn't quite as awful as he originally thought and started seeing him as a friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Concerto Memorial

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this around Memorial Day, and it's finally done after a couple rewrites. The concert was hard to write, and ultimately decided less detail could be more moving. So here you go!

Steve Rogers was not happy. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy spending time with Tony, now that they weren’t spending every moment together at each other’s throats. It was just… this was not what he planned on doing this weekend. But Tony had absolutely refused to take no for an answer, and even the other Avengers had insisted he go, Thor going so far as to manhandle Steve out the door to Tony’s waiting Audi. He wasn’t sure why this was so important to them, but their determination to make him go made him certain it was. So he put up with the drive to the airport and the flight to DC, and kept his displeasure to a grimace when Tony handed him a suit bag in their hotel suite and shoved him into the bathroom.

“Put this on.”

He didn’t expect it to hold his dress uniform, which he last saw when he was taking it off, after that final strategy meeting. Before the fight with Red Skull, before the plane -

No. He promised himself he wouldn’t think about that this weekend. Only the good times, when the Commandos were off duty, when they were actually relaxed enough to laugh at more than their bare survival from the latest battle.

When he emerges from the bathroom, he’s surprised to find Tony has also changed, and is now wearing one of his most conservative suits. His hair is properly combed for once, instead of the artful tousling he’s so fond of, and the somberness of expression on his face would not be out of place at a funeral. Steve hasn’t put on his tie yet, and finds himself pulled close by the other man and his collar suddenly popped up to give him better access at his neck. He realizes after it’s already done that he shouldn’t be surprised by the speed with which Tony’s fingers tie a Windsor knot, especially considering how often the man wears suits, but he’s still impressed. He’s never really imagined Tony as the type to get extremely elaborate with that sort of thing.

The shorter man smooths the shoulders of his Eisenhower Jacket before handing him his hat.

“Alright Cap, lets make tracks.”

Steve sighs, but follows Tony out to the elevator.

“Tony, where are we going? Why the dress uniform?”

Tony frowns, but his expression is mostly unreadable behind polarized sunglasses. Why he has them on, when they haven’t even left the building, Steve isn’t sure.

“We’re going to a concert.”

“A concert.” Steve sighs. “You dragged me here for a concert.”

Tony shuffles his feet for a moment, before finally lifting his glasses to look Steve in the eye.

“It’s kind of a big deal.” He hesitates, seeming unsure of what to say. “Look, I know you don’t want to be here. But, you just need to see this, okay? One ninety minute concert and then you can catch a plane home if you want. But you need to watch it, okay?”

There’s an honesty, and a something in Tony’s eyes that Steve can’t quite place. So he goes with it, gets in the Town Car without prompting. Is surprised when Tony completely ignores the bottles of alcohol in the Lincoln’s wet bar. Progress is slow as they get closer to the mall, until they get past a police barrier. From there, they are quick to arrive at their destination.

Tony darts off to speak with someone for a few seconds, and then leads them towards the large crowd Steve belatedly realizes is the audience. It’s not until they round the corner of the stage that he sees them, starts to wonder what this concert is for. He stops, grabbing Tony by the arm to keep him from walking away.

“Tony, what _is_ this?”

“This? This is the National Memorial Day Concert, Steve. It’s held yearly on the eve of Memorial Day. To honor those who serve - those who have fallen.”

Oh. He’s not really sure what to say, what to feel about Tony going through so much effort to bring him here for this.

“So then, those people...”

Tony turns to follow his gaze, which rests on a few dozen young men in wheelchairs or missing limbs, before nodding.

“Veterans of Afghanistan.”

He suddenly realizes why Tony has been so somber since they arrived in DC.

“Okay.”

He follows Tony unquestioningly this time, allows himself to be led into the seats. They’re several rows back, and he’s surrounded by old men. Many wear baseball caps proclaiming them veterans of the various services, others wear American Legion caps. Some of the younger men are in their dress uniforms. Only Steve wears an Ike jacket.

They sit for half an hour before the concert starts, and the audience falls silent. A singer Steve’s never heard of performs the Star Spangled Banner, and then an actor he barely recognizes is onstage. There’s an orchestral piece, and then an actress Steve doesn’t know is doing a dramatic reading of the story of a son lost in Afghanistan, written by the boys mother. Beside him, Tony is mostly staring at his hands in his lap, only throwing occasional glances at the stage.

During a section describing a firefight, in which the actress’ voice grows heavier with emotion, video of a similar scene plays on a screen behind her. Tony flinches away from the sight and sound, resting his head on his hand and staring at some spot on the ground over his shoulder. His gaze is vacant until the section is done, but he shrugs off Steve’s concern and resumes a more normal watching practice.

His whispered “I’m fine” is less than convincing.

There are a couple more songs, which Steve finds moving, and then he’s distracted again, this time by Tony rising from his seat. He frowns at him.

“Tony, where are you - “

“I just need some air. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Five minutes later, he’s starting to get concerned because Tony is still gone. On stage, Gary Sinise is beginning a new segment. Steve is only half listening, when he hears the names of those being introduced.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, and Tony Stark, reading from the memoirs of Agent Margaret Carter, Colonel Chester Phillips, and Howard Stark.”

The lights dim, replaced with a spotlight centered above Tony, who stands perfectly still, looking directly into the cameras, none of his usual flash and energy present. He looks perfectly contained, prim and proper, and Steve thinks this is the first time he’s seen Tony look like the Howard he didn’t know - the one who was stiff and reserved and hated attention. And when Tony begins to speak, Steve is taken aback by the emotion in his voice.

“The first time I met Steve Rogers, he was this skinny kid from Brooklyn. No one really thought much of him. No one but Abraham. I didn’t think he’d survive the experiment.”

“The first time I met Steve Rogers, I thought he was going to fall off my obstacle course and break in half.”

“The first time I met Steve Rogers, I thought there was something different about him, besides being short and scrawny. And then he proved it by outsmarting seventeen years worth of recruits.”

Steve smiles at each of the memories, enthralled as he watches Tony and the others speak. Projected behind them, are images that he last saw months ago, ones that he is sure have never been released to the public. Steve at boot camp, pre-serum, Steve deep in conversation with Dr. Erskine, Steve climbing onto the table, Howard adjusting dials in the background. The photograph that appeared in the newspapers, of him holding the taxi cab’s door as a shield.

There follows a series of propaganda posters and images that Steve recognizes from his tour of the states. He finds himself blushing as Gary Sinise narrates the story of the Captain America that sold bonds and fought Nazis, the one from the comic books that punched Hitler in the face. And how none of that was the real captain America.

“Things changed when Steve found out about the one-oh-seventh.” the actress reading for Peggy quoted.

“Two hundred men were captured by Hydra forces. For experiments, for leverage, and god knows what else. And we only learned that after they came strolling back into allied territory.” The actors sound so much like the people he knew, he can picture Peggy and Colonel Phillips standing on stage.

“The craziest thing I’ve ever done was fly Steve Rogers into enemy territory so he could save his best pal’s ass.” Tony lets some of his cockiness bleed into his voice, and Steve hears Howard up on that stage. “I don’t know if it was luck or skill that got me out, and I don’t know if it was luck or skill that got Steve and the one-oh-seventh out either.”

Steve finds himself wondering if Howard ever managed to stop off for his late night fondue, or if the plane had been too badly damaged.

The story goes on, about the Howling Commandos and their secret war against Hydra, about Hydra being an evil greater than Hitler’s Nazis. Clips from the newsreels play, showing them planning their next assault on a hydra base, or repelling Red Skulls most recent advance. There is pride in the actors voices as they speak of the Commando’s achievements. In Tony’s as he tells of the vibranium shield. And then the tone saddens, as Bucky dies, and the final Hydra base is reached. He swallows, as they relate his ‘last moments’ to the world. Peggy promising a dance, even while knowing she’d never see him alive again. Howard listening in via a radio relay someone had rigged hoping he could give piloting advice to Steve, unable to choose between breaking down and breaking something. The Commandos and Colonel Phillips wanting to avenge him and having no way to do so.

It was all in the files that SHIELD had provided, of course, but this is the first time it really hits Steve how hard his ‘death’ must have been on his friends - his family.

“All of the commandos kept fighting, even after they earned enough points to get home. When they were asked why, they said it was because that’s what the Cap would do. And that he would have done it because it was right.” Tommy Lee Jones says, and Steve shuts his eyes, unable to look anymore. He knows that they had all continued on in the war, but not that they had done so in his memory.

“When I helped build the bomb...” Tony’s voice is oddly sticky. “I couldn’t let any more good men die. And Steve...he was the best. Those are the men to whom we owe our greatness.”

Steve hears the honesty in Tony’s voice, the same honesty from earlier. It brings to mind the Press Conference after Afghanistan, when Tony had rambled about seeing American soldiers killed and there being zero accountability.

Gary Sinise closes the segment, discussing the ways in which the SSR and the Howling Commandos legacies live on, via SHIELD and the Avengers, and that not only do they now work to protect America, but the world itself. Steve feels humbled by the whole thing, and only half listens to the next singer. It’s minutes later that he’s shocked out of his memories and reverie by Tony dabbing at his cheeks with a handkerchief from the seat next to him. He lifts his hands to his now dry skin, nodding his thanks.

“I didn’t realize I...”

“It’s okay to mourn them, Steve.” Tony says, refolding his handkerchief and returning it to his pocket. “They were your friends and they were good men. You wouldn’t have fought with them otherwise.”

“Yeah.”

They sit in silence the rest of the concert, and Steve stands proudly through the Armed Forces Medley. After, it takes awhile to work towards the edge of the mall as fans seek out pictures with Tony Stark, who politely declines each request, stating that this day isn’t about him or the Avengers, and gently suggesting that if anyone wants a picture with a hero, they should ask any of the hundreds of veterans around them. The SHIELD files had mentioned how involved Tony had become in veterans affairs after Afghanistan, but Steve hadn’t really believed it until now.

“You know Captain, I never thought much of him before he was kidnapped. And then in place of weapons he started building new armor for our boys, invented new prosthetics for our wounded, and for the first time, he reminded me of the Howard that was around before we lost you.”

Steve turns to the hand on his shoulder, to the oddly familiar gruff old voice. And he finds himself chuckling in disbelief at the bowler hat and mustache.

“Dum Dum?”

“It’s good to see you again, Cap.”

Steve grasps him by the shoulders, pulling his old friend into a hug. He's older, and rounder, but that chortle is definitely all Dum Dum Dugan. When they break apart, he shakes his head, not knowing what to say.

“They told me you were dead.”

“Well, I am the last one. But this whole thing? Stark’s idea. He arranged it with the concert organization, got Fury to play along... I don’t think he counts himself as one, but he’s a good man too.”

Yeah. Every time Steve turns around, Tony is disproving Steve’s original assumptions about him.

“Anyway, come with me. There’s one more thing you need to see.”

Steve frowns, and looks around for Tony, spotting him in a crowd having his picture taken with a child and a wounded veteran.

“It’s alright. Stark knows where we’re going. He expects me to deliver you to your hotel sometime before sunrise.”

Steve shrugs, and follows.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
It’s sometime after two in the morning when Steve enters the hotel suite. He shakes his head at the site of Tony actually asleep on the couch without the distraction of his workshop, an infomercial flickering on the muted television. He picks the smaller man up and carries him carefully into the first bedroom. Tony only stirs after Steve has tucked him in and is nearly to the door.

“Did Dum Dum take you to the statue?” his voice is thick with sleep. Steve knows he’s referring to the Howling Commandos memorial. The statue was modelled off a photo taken before one of their incursions on a Hydra base, possibly the last before Bucky was killed.

“Yes Tony, he showed me the memorial.”

“D’jou like it?” he’s trying to sit up now, and rub the sleep from his eyes.

Steve bites back a sigh at the sight, and returns to Tony’s side, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Yes Tony. I like it.”

Tony lets his hands fall at that, a little smile on his face. Steve can’t help but smile too.

“Thank you for doing this. It means a lot.”

“I just wanted you to be happy. To show you that other people remember them too.”

“I know.”

Steve pulls him into a hug. Tony is stiff for a few seconds, but then relaxes and returns it, and after a minute reluctantly allows Steve to pull away.

“Go back to sleep, Tony.”

“‘kay.” he’s already laying back down, curling back under the blankets as Steve rises.

He pauses at the door, staring down at the curled form of Tony Stark. So much of what Steve thought about him was wrong. All the assumptions, everything the files had written about the showman version of Tony had made him reluctant to call him a friend. But Steve thinks that after tonight, that’s something he’ll never hesitate over again.


End file.
